Malfoy's Twin
by A Renegade Heart
Summary: Cassia Malfoy was prepared to breeze through Hogwarts and come out on the other side with the same esteem as her parents. On her first day, it dawns on her that her time at school isn't going to be so easy. Cassia learns the hard way that winning a war means sacrificing all else. Not everyone gets to be a hero. [On Hiatus]
1. Cliff's Edge

_**Malfoy's Twin**_

 _ **Cassia Malfoy was prepared to breeze through Hogwarts and come out on the other side with the same esteem as her parents. On her first day, it dawns on her that her time at school isn't going to be so easy. Cassia learns the hard way that winning a war means sacrificing all else. Not everyone gets to be a hero.**_

 **Author Note: I tried writing something with the same (very similar) premise under a different account a few years ago. It was bad. I don't remember if I deleted it or not lol whatever.**

 **Today is 19 years later! We'eve reached the end of canon! All was well!**

 **Chapter One - Cliff's Edge**

* * *

Cassia Malfoy jolted awake to a tapping on her window. She scrambled to get out of bed, throwing off her duvet and sprinting across the room. She forced open her window and an unfamiliar owl fluttered inside, dropping a thick envelope with a familiar purple seal onto her desk. Jittery with excitement, Cassia opened the letter.

 _ **HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

 _ **Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

 _ **(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

 _ **Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

 _ **Dear Ms. Malfoy,**_

 _ **We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.**_

That was all she needed to read. Cassia raced down the hall and burst into her brother's bedroom where he, to her dismay, was still asleep. A peeved looking owl sat outside of his window.

"Wake up idiot!" Cassia shouted as she let the bird in. "Our letters have arrived."

The owl dropped the envelope onto Draco's head, forcing him awake. He shot up out of bed and tore open his letter. The two exchanged an identical smile and hurried downstairs to where their parents were having a quiet morning. Cassia and Draco nearly fell over each other in the archway leading into the dining room.

"Mum! Dad!" They shouted in unison as they showed their parents the letters.

Cassia almost knocked over her mother's tea as she waved the parchment in her face.

"They came! They finally came!"

It took a moment for Lucius and Narcissa to get their children seated for breakfast. Cassia looked down at her eggs and toast, wondering what the food would be like at school. What if she didn't like it?

"Cassia, please don't just stare at your breakfast." Her father said, his eyes not leaving his newspaper.

As Cassia and Draco ate, their parents reminisced about their time at Hogwarts. They'd both been in Slytherin, the whole family had been.

"Your father was a prefect." Narcissa said proudly.

Cassia and Draco already knew that. It came up every time they talked about Hogwarts, which was often.

"Our family has quite the legacy at that school." Lucius said, glancing over the paper to look at his children. "I would have been Head Boy had it not been for Fabian Prewett."

Narcissa had a look on her face that said she doubted that, but she hid it behind her tea.

"We could be Head Boy and Girl." Draco said.

"I don't think they'd pick them from the same house." Narcissa said, looking to her husband.

"The Potters." He answered in a low voice.

Cassia stared at her half-eaten meal, suddenly not very hungry. They were just talking, she knew that, nobody expected her to be Head Girl. She frowned, should she want to be Head Girl? If they didn't choose prefects until fifth year, than, realistically, she shouldn't have to think about that until third year. She bit into her eggs. She didn't have to worry about it now.

"When can we get our wands?" Cassia asked.

"We'll go into Diagon Alley next week." Narcissa answered.

"Next week?" Draco complained. "Why can't we go today?"

Lucius stood up from the table, squeezing Narcissa's hand as he did.

"Because I have business today." He said as he left the room.

Narcissa picked up his newspaper and began to leaf through it.

"We could go without him." Cassia offered. "He doesn't like crowds anyway."

"Or noise." Draco added.

"I can still hear you." Lucius called out from the foyer.

Narcissa gave her children a wry look. "Go get dressed."

Draco furrowed his brow. "Where are we going?"

Narcissa smiled, "To visit my mother."

Draco and Cassia exchanged a look of horror.

Narcissa rolled her eyes at her children, "She is not that bad."

"The last time we were there she told me my eyes should be bluer." Cassia said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Narcissa stood up, "Then don't let her look at them."

Cassia watched her mother leave the room. "I'm going to tell Druella that my eyes are blue and that she's losing her vision in her old age."

Draco looked at her in disbelief, "Please don't."

Cassia downed the rest of her orange juice and stood up. She wasn't going to say that. Her grandmother wasn't even that old. She could say it though, if she really wanted, that's what mattered.

* * *

The week leading up to their trip to Diagon Alley passed at an agonizing pace. Cassia found that she had nothing to do except stare at books she'd already read and wonder what her schoolwork were going to be like. It was doing that, or spending hours talking with Draco about what their lives were going to be like at school. He had already begun to plan how they would train next summer for Quidditch tryouts, so that they would make the team. There were others ways to assure they would get the positions they wanted, but Cassia didn't like to think about them. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to be on the team at all.

"I was a chaser." Narcissa said as they approached the brick wall in the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Father, you didn't play did you?" Draco asked.

"I preferred to focus on my studies." He said.

"Your father was in the top of his class." Narcissa said. "So was I." She added, tapping her wand on the wall.

Cassia watched as the bricks moved away to reveal the bustling cobblestone street. She had been to Diagon Alley dozens of times but it didn't matter, there was always something new. A bored looking witch stood behind a cart with a sign that read, "So you want to be an Animagus?"

"Mandrake leaves! Get your mandrake leaves here!" She shouted. "Cheap and the highest quality there is!"

Cassia doubted that. She followed closely behind her family as they strode through the crowd.

"We should start with robes." Narcissa said, glancing over the list of items they needed for school.

Cassia sighed, she wanted to get her wand.

"Or perhaps quills?" Lucius suggested.

"Potage's Cauldron Shop is just up ahead." Narcissa pointed out.

Draco frowned. "We know you're listing all the boring stuff on purpose."

"There's nothing boring about a nice quill." Narcissa told him.

Lucius nodded. "You could have it for the whole year, wouldn't that be nice?"

"No." Cassia said petulantly. "I could have my wand for my whole life, wouldn't that be nice?"

Narcissa exchanged a look with Lucius that Cassia couldn't read.

"So what you would like is for us to purchase all the things you've decided are boring, while you two go get your wands?" Narcissa asked, smirking.

"Yes." Cassia said bluntly, looking hopefully up at her mother.

"They have to get measured for robes." Lucius pointed out.

Narcissa placed a hand on each of her children's backs, steering them towards Madam Malkin's. Reluctantly, Cassia and Draco went inside.

"Hogwarts?" A woman, presumably Madam Malkin, asked them.

Narcissa nodded and let Madam Malkin lead them deeper into the shop. Madam Malkin was short and smiling and dressed in a hideous shade of purple. She stood them each on a stool and slipped a long black robe over each of their heads. She fitted Cassia first, pinning the robe to the right length.

"You're going to be quite tall, aren't you?" Madam Malkin said brightly.

Cassis stared at herself in the mirror. She looked like a floating head, her body hidden beneath the massive robe.

"I guess." She said, not sure what Madam Malkin expected her to say.

Draco opened his mouth to say something as the doorbell chimed.

"I'll be right back." Madam Malkin said as she hurried to the front of the store.

Cassia watched as the robe she wore began to cut and sew itself, Draco's was doing the same. Madam Malkin returned and stood a boy on the stool next to Draco. He was a slight boy with jet black hair falling over his forehead. His clothes were ill-fitting and tattered. He looked rather nervous. She waved at him, before he could respond Draco turned to him, looking more than a little bored.

"Hullo," He said. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes." Said the boy.

"Our father's next door buying our books and our mother's up the street looking at cauldrons." Draco told him.

"Afterwards we're getting our wands." Cassia added excitedly, her robe swishing around her feet as she turned towards them.

Draco smirked at her, "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing grooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully my father into getting my one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." He said.

Cassia rolled her eyes at him but said nothing, she couldn't see any way that plan was going to work.

"Have you got your own broom?" Draco continued.

"No." Said the boy.

"Play Quidditch at all?" Cassia asked him.

"No." Said the boy.

It crossed her mind that he might not know what Quidditch is, she may be talking to a muggleborn. She looked him over. Her parents said it was easy to tell the difference between real wizards and muggleborns.

"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" Draco asked him.

Cassia could remember if their father had ever said that to Draco, maybe in private. Not that Draco was a bad flyer, both of them were quite good.

"No." Said the boy.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there." Cassia said, trying to be of some kind of assurance.

"I know we'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Draco said, speaking mostly to Cassia.

She scoffed at the idea of either of them being sorted into Hufflepuff. The boy made a noise of contemplation. Draco turned to something in the window.

"I say, look at that man!" He exclaimed.

Cassia whipped around to see. A large man with a wild beard and a mane of hair was standing there grinning at the boy. He was holding two large ice-creams. Cassia wondered if their parents would let them get some later.

"That's Hagrid," said the boy, sounding a little more animated. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh." Draco said. "I've heard of him. He's sort of a servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper." The boy answered curtly.

Draco didn't seem to notice the boy's impatience and he kept talking. "Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant." The boy said coldly.

Draco regarded the boy with a sour look.

"All we know are rumours." Cassia interjected.

"Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" Draco asked without any tact at all.

"They're dead." The boy said shortly.

Cassia stared at the boy, shocked. It must have happened a long time ago, for him to be able to be so frank about it.

"Oh, sorry." Draco said. He didn't sound sorry.

"That's terrible." Cassia added, trying to be a little more sympathetic. The boy just looked at her.

"They were our kind, weren't they?" Draco asked him.

Cassia shot her brother a look of disbelief, of course that's what he was most interested in. She wanted to know too, but it wouldn't be the first thing she asked after finding out that his parents were dead. That, she thought, was a little insensitive.

"They were a witch and a wizard, if that's what you mean." He answered.

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?" Draco said, speaking quickly.

Cassia was tempted to smack her brother upside his head. Wizarding parents or not, if he was being escorted through Diagon Alley by Hogwarts faculty, he had grown up with muggles. But before the boy could say anything Madam Malkin dismissed him, and he seemed eager to leave.

"Well, we'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose." Draco said as he walked away.

Cassia sighed.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

* * *

Ollivanders, for a store Cassia had heard so much about, didn't look like much. A bell chimed somewhere deep in the shop as they stepped inside. Cassia stared at the rows upon rows of wands, she suddenly felt quite intimidated. There was a large pile of wands on the counter, tested but not bought. She furrowed her brow, how long could she be in here for? Her mouth went dry as an unpleasant thought wormed its way into her head. What if there was no right wand for her? Cassia took a breath. There was no reason for that to happen to anyone, let alone her, a Malfoy.

A man appeared from between the stacks of wands, Ollivander.

"Ah," he said, "I was wondering when I'd be seeing the Malfoy twins."

His voice was soft, but it carried in the eerie silence of his shop.

"Well, here we are." Draco said.

Ollivander eyed them both. "Yes, there you are."

A measuring tape, seemingly with a mind of its own, zipped around them taking any measurement it could. Cassia watched it.

"We're both right-handed." She said to it.

The measuring tape paid her no mind as Ollivander disappeared back into the store. He came back holding several boxes in his arms, he held one out to Draco.

"Oak and dragon heartstring, give it a try."

Eagerly, Draco took the wand out of the box. Cassia watched in anticipation as nothing happened.

"Hmmm." Ollivander said. "It's the same wand core as your mother so I would have thought… Ms. Malfoy, give it a try."

Cassia took the wand in her hand, like with her brother, nothing happened. Ollivander didn't seem to notice, he handed another box to Draco.

"Dragon heartstring can be tricky, perhaps…"

He trailed off as he watched Draco. Her brother certainly looked more pleased with that wand. His face lit up as silver sparks danced out of the end of the wand.

"What is it?" He asked, pleased with himself.

"Hawthorn and unicorn hair." Ollivander answered. "Good for curses, though, not so easily swayed to the dark arts." He added, studying her brother.

Draco wasn't looking at him, he was admiring his wand. Ollivander disappeared back into the stacks.

"Second try." He muttered to Cassia.

She scowled at him. "You're being especially annoying today." She hissed.

Ollivander came back, his focus now on Cassia. She felt small under the scrutiny of his silvery eyes. She wondered for a moment, how well he could see.

"Dragon heartstring and holly." He said, passing her a box.

Carefully she picked up the wand and waved it. A potted plant toppled from a shelf. Cassia let out a small scream and dropped the wand. Quickly she picked it up, feeling her face redden. Draco snickered. Ollivander didn't seem to care as he waded deeper into the back of his shop.

"Interesting." She heard him mutter.

Her heart crawled up into her throat.

Ollivander held out a worn looking box. Cassia took it, not meeting his eyes.

"That's a strange wand, a strange combination." He mused.

She could feel him watching her as she took it in her wand. A feeling of warmth crawled up her arm and suddenly she was being showered with silver sparks. Cassia let out a smile break out onto her face. It faded as soon as she saw Ollivander's look of interest. She cleared her throat.

"And what kind of wand is this?" She asked.

"Dragon heartstring and rowan." He said. "That wand may be a bit temperamental." Draco snickered, covering it up poorly with a cough.

"Like you." He muttered.

"Dragon heartstring is a powerful weapon for whichever witch or wizard that yields it. But-" He paused, looking her right in the eyes, "there's never been a dark witch or wizard with a rowan wand."

Cassia shifted her weight, trying to ignore his gaze.

The door to the shop swung open, making Cassia nearly jump out of her skin. She spun around. It was just their parents.

"Have you found your wands?" Narcissa asked as Lucius placed fourteen galleons on Ollivander's desk.

Cassia and Draco nodded. She looked down at the wand in her hand, it didn't look like much more than a stick. Cassia thought she would feel better about having her wand, especially after being so excited to get it, instead she felt a little sick. Silently, she followed her family out of the store.

Draco nudged her, "What's with your face? You look upset." He whispered.

Cassia watched the crowd part for their family as they made their way back towards the Leaky Cauldron. People's conversations would fall to whispers as they passed, their eyes following them darkly. Cassia had a bitter taste in her mouth. These people didn't know her, and they didn't like her.

"I'm not upset." She said, forcing a smile onto her face. "I just don't like crowds."

Draco shrugged and looked away from her, his eyes flicking to each shop as they passed. She hadn't lied, she wasn't upset, but she was unnerved. Hogwarts was always made out to be the best seven years of one's life. But Cassia didn't feel like she was at the beginning of a great adventure, she felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff.

* * *

 **Any feedback (as long as it's worded so that you're, like, not being a dick) is super welcome :)**


	2. September 1st

**I didn't put this in the first chapter, but I don't own Harry Potter.**

 **Chapter Two - September 1st**

* * *

When Cassia awoke on September 1st the morning was grey. She rolled out of bed and drew herself a bath. It was likely to be her last one in private, at least until Christmas. She was going to miss being alone. Hogwarts didn't sound like a place where privacy was easy to find. She didn't want to find herself longing for the solitude of her bedroom. She didn't want to miss home at all. Though, Cassia wasn't looking forwards to living in the Slytherin dorms, deep in the bowels of the castle. Her parents looked back on them fondly. But Cassia didn't like to envision herself trying to do her homework by windows into the lake and whatever might be lurking in it.

After running a comb through her hair Cassia turned to her almost empty armoire. She ignored the dress her mother had picked out for her. She understood how important it was to look nice, but she couldn't fathom suffering in a lace collar when she was already feeling sick. Cassia dug a white sweater and one of her few pairs of jeans out of her trunk. She put on the flats her mother had chosen.

As quietly as she could, Cassia ventured out of the manor. She strode towards the forest behind her home and forced open the wrought iron gate. The ground was wet with dew. Her feet were slipping on the grass as she walked deeper into the woods. She loved the forest. Its quiet was different from the heavy silence of her home. Four people could never make a mansion feel lived in. Outside, surrounded by bird calls and the rustle of leaves under an animal's feet, Cassia liked feeling alone. Though, until this summer, her trips into the woods had never been lonely. She and Draco would race through the trees on their brooms, stopping only when the forest got too thick. They'd return home, cut up by brambles and having missed a lesson with their tutor. Cassia hadn't flown at all in the past few months. She never played without Draco, and he, to her dismay, had been spending most of his time with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Cassia had never thought much of them before, but she couldn't stand them now. Her friend Daphne Greengrass had an even lower opinion of the two. "I heard their families were a bit too committed to being pure-blood." Daphne had said. Cassia didn't want to think about what that meant, or if it was even true.

Cassia stopped at the foot of an ancient oak tree and looked up at the leaves. Already some were turning brilliant shades of red and gold. Summer had come and gone much quicker than she'd thought it would. That night she would be falling asleep at Hogwarts. Her classes would start the next morning, the start of the next seven years. Her breath caught in her throat.

 _The rest of my life starts today._

Everyone had always told Cassia and Draco that their school days would go by in the blink of an eye. She knew it was supposed to excite them, to get them to appreciate what could be the best years of their lives. Cassia wasn't comforted. If anything, she was terrified. She knew what was expected of her, but she didn't know what to expect of herself. And Cassia didn't know if those two things should be different.

She stared out into forest, peering into the places where the woods stopped being beautiful. Gnarled branches tangled together, blocking out the sun, leaving the forest floor to rot. She wondered how far she'd have to walk to reach the other side.

A twig snapped behind her. Cassia whipped around, her heart hammering. It was Draco, looking rather unimpressed.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking." Cassia scowled. "What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking?" Draco said. "What, are you nervous?"

Cassia frowned at him. "You say that like it'd be a bad thing."

Draco shrugged. He was already dressed, wearing a suit one of their parents had laid out. Cassia, though she knew she shouldn't, felt underdressed.

"It wouldn't be a bad thing." He said. "It would just be weird."

"Well," Cassia sighed. "One of us has to be the weird one I guess."

Her brother rolled his eyes at her. Cassia looked away from him. She had always been unnerved when she met his eyes and saw her own staring back, hard and grey. She pulled her sleeves over her hands, hiding her fidgeting fingers.

"Somethings bothering you." Draco said. "What is it?"

He didn't sound sympathetic at all. Cassia thought she preferred that, the last thing she would want was pity, especially from him.

"I don't know." She said. "It just feels so… school should be about new things. Right? Learning more, meeting new people. But we already have our friends and we know which house we're going to be in and which classes we should take when we're older-" She spoke quickly, her words falling over one another. Cassia took a breath and looked back to him. "I don't like feeling like everything's been decided for me. That's not what I want."

Draco frowned. "It hasn't been." He told her. "Can you come inside now? Mum won't let us have breakfast without you."

She scowled. Of course he'd come looking for her because he would have gotten into trouble if he didn't. She loved Draco, more than she loved herself sometimes, but occasionally she was tempted to throttle him. Reluctantly, Cassia followed her brother out of the woods.

"So you're not nervous at all?" She asked him again as they reached the edge of the trees. The sun was up now. Cassia half hoped since she'd been honest he would be too.

"No." Draco said.

Cassia didn't believe him.

* * *

Cassia could not have prepared herself for the chaos of platform nine and three quarters. People ushered around her and her family, nearly rolling over their feet with trolleys as they greeted friends and bid goodbye to family. Cassia spotted a familiar curtain of dark hair tied back with an emerald ribbon. It was Daphne, trying in vain to comfort her sobbing younger sister. She looked like she was fighting back her own tears. Cassia looked away.

"Alright." Narcissa said. She sounded very strained. "Your trunks are on board, you have everything, you're ready to go."

She didn't look particularly ready to let them go.

"We'll you write every week." Cassia assured.

Narcissa pulled both Draco and Cassia into a bone-crushing embrace.

"We're expecting letters twice a week." She said into their hair.

Lucius placed a hand on Narcissa's back. "How will they get any work done?" He asked.

Narcissa smiled and released them. Cassia stiffened as her father placed on awkward hand on her and Draco's shoulders. She loved her father, but he was not any good at this.

"Be smart." He said. "This school is full of-" He lowered his voice as a large redheaded family brushed past them. "Know what you're worth."

Cassia nodded.

"We expect an owl tomorrow." Lucius said, letting them go and looking towards the train.

Narcissa grabbed each of their hands for one last squeeze. "Be safe."

Cassia heard Daphne call her name from aboard the train. Narcissa smiled at them both, her blue eyes shining as she waved for them to board. Cassia turned and hurried onto the train, Draco was right behind her. She opened a window, leaning out for one last goodbye. Narcissa was dabbing underneath her eyes with a handkerchief. Cassia took a steadying breath as the station disappeared around the corner. She shut the window and turned to watch Draco slip into a compartment with his friends. Scowling, Cassia joined Daphne inside of her own compartment. To her displeasure, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson had joined her.

She collapsed down into the seat next to Daphne. "Well, we're on our way now."

Daphne was beaming, through her eyes still looked a little red. "I know. I can barely believe it. Of course Astoria was crying, 'why can't I go now?'" She mocked her younger sister. "I'm going to savour these two years I have without her."

Cassia could tell Daphne didn't mean it, but Pansy couldn't. That fact made Cassia smile, she still knew Daphne better.

"Astoria can be quite annoying." Pansy said.

Daphne did nothing but give the other girl a tight lipped smile and turn to the window. London was gone; rolling fields of cattle had replaced it.

"It might be too early to be talking about the dorm." Cassia said absentmindedly. "But I want whichever bed is closest to the windows."

Millicent looked at her oddly. "Our dorms won't have windows."

Cassia looked away from the bright green fields outside. "Right."

 _Because I'll be living in a dungeon._

She sighed and leaned back into the seat. Pansy struck up a conversation with Millicent about her new cat. Daphne leaned closer to her.

"Are you alright?" She whispered, keeping an eye on Pansy to see that she wasn't listening.

Cassia nodded. "I'm just tired."

Daphne looked at her thoughtfully, "Well, liven up. We're going to Hogwarts today and I don't think I've seen you smile."

Cassia looked at her friend, half a smirk on her face. "I never smile."

Daphne didn't look impressed. "I remember you falling over laughing when Goyle went somersaulting down the stairs at my family's Christmas party last year."

Pansy let out a bark of laughter and Cassia let a smile break out onto her face.

"You know Astoria tripped him, don't you?" She asked.

Daphne shrugged.

"I don't remember this." Millicent said.

"You weren't there." Cassia said without thinking. "A family thing, wasn't it?" She added.

The family thing was that Millicent was half-blood. Daphne's grandmother was particularly conservative about such things. "Tainted blood." She called it.

Millicent went back to stroking her cat. Pansy and Daphne launched into an animated discussion about what their favourite subjects might be. Cassia rolled her eyes at the pang of guilt in her chest.

"What's its name?" Cassia asked Millicent.

"Violetta." She answered.

"Well that's nice." Cassia said, feeling awkward.

"I got the name from my family tree." Millicent continued. "She joined the House of Black." She said proudly.

Cassia nodded. She could have guessed that's where Millicent got the idea. Violetta Black was her great-great-grandmother.

"She had a daughter named Cassiopeia." Millicent went on. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"Yes." Cassia said, not eager to discuss family with Millicent, who was barely related to her or the House of Black. "After my great-aunt."

"You're named after both of your aunts aren't you?" Millicent asked.

Cassia scowled at her as Pansy and Daphne fell quiet.

"Are you named after any of your muggle aunts?" Cassia asked, keeping her voice light. Pansy poorly hid a smirk behind her hand.

"My mother is not a mudblood." Millicent snapped.

"Wasn't your grandfather?" Cassia pressed, furious. She didn't like to talk about her Aunt Bellatrix, Cassia hadn't known her and she'd been born before the woman was tossed into Azkaban. Being named after a woman who was in prison was not a point of pride for anyone.

Millicent opened her mouth to speak but the compartment door slid open before she could.

A gaudily dressed woman smiled at them, "Anything from the trolley dears?"

* * *

Much of the ride after lunch passed in silence. Cassia and Daphne were sharing Daphne's copy of _Hogwarts a History_ , flipping through it to find the interesting parts. Millicent kept attempting to speak with Pansy, but Pansy was all of a sudden a very poor conversationalist. Cassia would have felt bad if Millicent hadn't brought up Bellatrix, she should have known better.

As the sky outside grew darker and the fields turned into forest their compartment door slid open again. This time the four girls were faced with a girl with incredibly curly hair and teeth too big for her face.

"You haven't seen a frog have you?" She asked. Her voice was rather forceful.

"Why?" Pansy scoffed. "Have you lost one?"

"No." She said. "A boy named Neville Longbottom has lost one." She explained. "I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione said. Her eyes flicked to the book that sat open between Daphne and Cassia. "It's excellent isn't it? I've read the whole thing already."

Hermione moved to sit down next to Daphne, who had turned around from sitting cross legged facing Cassia to look at the new girl.

"This compartment is full." Millicent told her, earning a pleased smile from Pansy.

"And haven't you got a frog to look for?" Daphne added, looking up at Hermione through doe-like eyes.

Cassia watched as Hermione awkwardly stepped back into the doorway. Cassia looked back to Daphne, eyes narrowed. Daphne looked away.

"Well, we'll be arriving soon I think." She said to them. Her voice was a little smaller. "You should put on your robes." Hermione's dark brown eyes flicked to each of them. "Have you heard Harry Potter is on the train?"

"We have." Pansy said and flicked her eyes to the sliding door.

In a moment Hermione had disappeared into the corridor. Pansy turned to Daphne and Cassia, the picture of shock.

"Harry Potter? In our year at Hogwarts?"

Daphne glanced at her. "Yeah." She said flatly. "He's our age."

Millicent looked as though she'd been struck by lightning. "Do you think he has the scar?"

"I expect we'll find out." Cassia said. Her eyes were still on the compartment door.

"I hear he went to live with muggles." Daphne said. "I hope he has someone proper introducing him to our world."

Pansy let out a short laugh. "I doubt it. He'll probably be befriending people like Hermione Granger in no time." She mocked Hermione's bossy voice as she said her name. "It's a shame what's happened to wizards. There should be a divide between us and the muggles; after all we're not the same."

Cassia glowered at Pansy. "And I suppose that divide is a compartment door?"

"What?" Pansy said, leaning forward. "You wanted to sit with the mudblood?"

Cassia watched as Millicent and Daphne's eyes flicked uneasily between the two of them, silent.

"I just think it's beneath us to be so rude." Cassia said lightly. "That's all."

Pansy sat back into her seat and held her tongue. She was furious. Cassia didn't care, she'd finished that argument.

"We should put on our robes." Daphne said, trying to break the tension.

The four of them changed in silence. Cassia wondered briefly when Hermione would understand why there wasn't a place for her to sit with them. The most unfortunate thing about muggleborns, Cassia thought, was that at first they didn't know why they didn't belong.

As Cassia tightened her tie around her neck the train began to slow. She glanced out the window; all she could see was a deep purple sky and endless forest. The infamous castle was nowhere in sight.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time." A voice sounded through the train. "Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

Cassia's stomach lurched as the train did the same before it slowed to a stop. For a moment the four girls looked at each wearing identical expressions of nervousness. Silently, they pushed their way off of the train and over to the large man Cassia had seen in Diagon Alley what felt like forever ago. She couldn't remember his name.

"Firs' years!" He called.

Stumbling through the dark, Cassia followed her friends and fellow first years down a narrow path. There was a living wall of dense forest on either side of them. For a second Cassia would have sworn she saw several pairs of small eyes glowing in the brush. She quickly looked away.

"Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," The man called out to them, "jus' round this bend here."

Cassia gasped, as did everyone else. The path had come to the edge of a pitch black lake. Sat atop a high mountain on the other side, the castle loomed over them. Its many towers climbed into the sky, the windows glittered like the stars.

"No more'n four to a boat!" The man instructed.

Cassia, Daphne, Millicent and Pansy hurried to a boat and clambered inside. Each of them was still looking up at Hogwarts in awe.

"Everyone in?" Shouted the man. "Right then - FORWARD!"

The boats all moved together. She spotted her brother sitting with Crabbe, Goyle and a boy she didn't recognize, though they all seemed friendly already. She watched Pansy whisper something to Daphne and Daphne giggled. She scowled, wondering how she'd ended up sitting next to Millicent.

The man called out for them to keep their heads down as the approached the Cliffside. The little boats pushed through a curtain of ivy and under the castle. Cassia wondered how close she was to the Slytherin dorms. Without warning, their boats landed on a beach of small rocks and pebbles. The man found Neville Longbottom's toad, its name was Trevor. Cassia thought that was a rather stupid name, even for a frog. At least Neville seemed happy with his unfortunate choice of pet.

They continued to follow the man up a dark tunnel. He had to bend over quite a bit as to not hit his head on the stone ceiling. They emerged in the shadow of the castle, it seemed impossibly big. How was she supposed to find her way around?

Cassia took a deep breath.

She had seven years to figure it out.

After assuring that they hadn't lost anyone on the way. The man led them up a flight of stone steps. They crowded around a massive wooden door. He raised a huge fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

* * *

They were greeted by a tall, raven-haired witch in emerald green robes. She appeared to be scowling at them. Cassia became very afraid this woman was the head of Slytherin.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." The man said.

"Thank you, Hagrid." So that was his name. "I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall led them through a wide door. The entrance hall was extraordinary, grander than her home and far brighter. Cassia couldn't tell where the ceiling was as they strode across the stone floors. The space above their heads was occupied by endless marble staircases. She was certain she saw one move.

Cassia caught up to her brother as Professor McGonagall led them into a small room, forcing them to crowd together.

"It's incredible isn't it?" She whispered.

Draco nodded, looking a little paler than usual. Cassia was pleased to find that some of her nerves had worn off.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall said. Her voice silenced any whispers. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room."

For a moment Cassia thought she was finished, but she continued.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Cassia wondered if there was a special award for the student who earned the most points for their house.

"The Sorting Ceremony" Professor McGonagall continued "will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered on them for a moment, eyeing students with dishevelled hair and rumpled cloaks. Cassia was pleased Professor McGonagall's' eyes did rest on her.

"I shall return when we are ready for you." She said. "Please wait quietly."

Cassia assured her hair was smooth while everyone else speculated about the sorting ceremony. It's a hat.

She took another deep breath.

It's just a hat.

"Draco, do you think-" Cassia cut herself off by nearly screaming.

At least twenty ghosts streamed through the back wall. Some people had screamed. Cassia was glad that she wasn't one of them. Draco looked just as surprised. She was thankful that the ghosts seemed to be paying them little attention and were instead chatting amongst themselves. Cassia wondered what ghosts had to talk about, since there couldn't be much happening in their lives, considering the obvious.

"Move along now, The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Said Professor McGonagall as she strode back into the room. "Now, form a line," she instructed, "and follow me."

Cassia fell in line behind her brother and right in front of Daphne. She was quite glad that they were both next to her. She was nervous again, and if possible, even more than before.

 _It will all be over soon._

It hit her that she would be in front of everyone. All of her teachers and fellow students. What if she tripped? Or sneezed? What if her skirt got caught on something and ripped?

Every thought in her head disappeared as she stepped into the Great Hall. The bewitched ceiling she had thought nothing of when she'd read about it was breathtaking. It was a perfect picture of the sky outside. Had Cassia not known what it truly was, she would have thought there was no ceiling.

Draco nudged her, "There it is." He said.

Cassia looked to where he was looking. Professor McGonagall had placed a ratty old hat on a stool. Cassia thought it would have been more impressive. For a moment the hall was completely silent. The hat ripped open at the brim, forming its mouth, and it began to sing:

 _"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _if you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning,_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folks use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

Cassia frowned as the hall burst into applause. The hat bowed to each table. She didn't know what was in her head, and she did not know if it qualified her for any of the houses. Of course she knew where she'd go anyway. Cassia was one of "those cunning folks" as the hat had put it, she had to be.

Professor McGonagall had stepped up in front of the Great Hall, holding a scroll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," She explained. "Abbott, Hannah!" She called out.

The first student to be sorted was sorted into Hufflepuff. Cassia found that a little disappointing. The first student in her year that the school was introduced to was not particularly courageous, intelligent or ambitious. Yet, Hannah Abbott seemed pleased.

Cassia toyed with a strand of her hair as Professor McGonagall went down the list.

Her head snapped up as Millicent's name was called, she became the first student sorted into Slytherin. That, was also a little disappointing. Her attention was caught again later down the list when Hermione's name was called. She raced up to the stool and jammed the hat onto her bushy head. After a long moment of pause,

"GRYFFINDOR!" Shouted the hat.

She heard a boy behind her groan.

"Greengrass, Daphne." Professor McGonagall called.

Daphne squeezed Cassia's hand before she stepped up to the stool. Eagerly, she put the hat onto her head. It didn't take long for the hat to make a decision.

"SLYTHERIN!" It announced.

Cassia watched Daphne practically skip to her table as her new house cheered. Cassia smiled as Daphne made a space at the table next to her. She looked over to Cassia and pointed to the spot.

She twisted her strand of hair tight around her finger as she waited and finally, it was her and Draco's turn.

"Malfoy, Draco." Professor McGonagall called.

He shot Cassia a grin as he strode towards the stool, a smug look on his face. She pressed her teeth tightly together as he sat down. The hat hardly touched his head.

"SLYTHERIN!" It shouted.

He joined Daphne, Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table, looking the happiest she'd seen him all summer.

"Malfoy, Cassiopeia!" Professor McGonagall called out.

Cassia strode up to the stool without a glance back. She did her best to mimic Draco's confidence, though Cassia was feeling a little like she might be sick. Carefully, she picked up the ancient looking hat and pulled in onto her head. It fell over her eyes, shielding her from the gaze of the student body.

The hat was silent, it did not sort her right away.

Cassia felt very sick indeed.

"Hmm," There was a small voice in her ears. "Interesting…" Cassia clutched the edge of the stool, already feeling like she'd been up here too long. "A clever mind... eager to prove yourself, I see."

 _Prove myself what?_

"Well that is the question..." Cassia had not expected the hat to answer. "Quite a bit of nerve… but where to put you?"

 _Is it asking me?_

"Would you liked to be asked?" The small voice said.

Cassia furrowed her brow, incredibly confused.

"You're the thinking cap." She muttered. Her heart was hammering against her ribs.

"There is more than one way to be great, you know." It said. She did know that; she wasn't dull. "I think…" Cassia held her breath.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted.

Cassia yanked the hat off of her head and shot to her feet, not sure she'd heard that correctly. She did notice that only two houses were doing the obligatory clap, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The other two were looking quite stunned. She took a breath, knowing she couldn't stand at the front of the room forever.

 _Gryffindor._

That couldn't be right.

But she wasn't going to figure out what had gone wrong before the rest of the ceremony had finished.

Cassia smoothed out the front of her skirt and strode towards the Gryffindor table. They were now starting to cheer, though half-heartedly. She noticed that no one was moving aside to let her sit down. She had walked almost to the end of the table when, to her surprise, Hermione tapped the spot next to her. Cassia sat down as the next name was called. No one greeted her. No one seemed pleased.

Pansy Parkinson was sorted into Slytherin. Feeling sick, Cassia glanced over her shoulder to what should be her house. Pansy had taken the spot that Daphne had saved. Draco was staring down at his empty plate, looking incredibly pale.

For a moment Cassia would have sworn that the world had gone silent. She was sitting with House Gryffindor, and more importantly, she was not sitting with her brother. She wrung her hands under the table. Now was when Cassia figured she should be feeling some of that courage she apparently had in abundance. Instead, Cassia felt very hollow.

"Potter, Harry!" Professor McGonagall called.

Cassia's head snapped up. So it was true. She craned to get a look at him like everyone else. She recognized him, where could she have seen him before?

She remembered a similarly skinny and dishevelled boy getting fitted with her and Draco in Madame Malkin's. Cassia suddenly felt very stupid. She had been standing right across from Harry Potter and hadn't noticed. The scar was the only thing she could have recognized him by, and Cassia hadn't seen it. Maybe the scar was a rumour; maybe he didn't have any mark at all.

She was surprised to see that the sorting hat was spending quite a while on The Boy Who Lived.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally shouted.

The cheers from her house were deafening. Cassia wasn't surprised. It made sense for Harry Potter to be sorted into the house of bravery. It made Cassia wonder even more what the sorting hat had been thinking, or if it could think at all.

A redheaded boy, probably a Weasley, wearing a prefect's badge leapt to his feet to shake Harry Potter's hand. A set of twins, who looked like they were also Weasleys, were shouting "We got Potter!" in unison. Cassia looked away from them, her eyes falling instead on Parvati Patil. She also, had not been sorted into the same house as her twin, but Parvati didn't look to upset about it. She was chatting animatedly with Lavender Brown, both of them trying to get a good look at Harry Potter. Harry sat down across from a ghost, not too far down the table from Cassia and Hermione.

Cassia looked back up to the sorting hat. There were only three people left in line. Lisa Turpin joined Ravenclaw house and Blaise Zabini was sorted into Slytherin. He was the boy she had seen Draco talking to earlier, the one Cassia hadn't known. Harry looked happy that Ron Weasley had joined what looked like his entire family in Gryffindor. There was a moment of chatter before Albus Dumbledore got to his feet. The hall fell silent immediately.

"Welcome!" He said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our Banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" He said brightly. "Thank you."

Professor Dumbledore sat back down. Cassia stared at him. Her parents were right, he was mad.

Hermione nudged her as food materialized in front of them. Cassia couldn't imagine eating but she would have to. If she didn't, people might notice. Without thinking, Cassia put a bit of everything onto her plate and began to eat. People launched into conversations around her. She found that she couldn't quite hear them. Everything felt far away. Cassia thought for a moment that this was a nightmare, and she was beginning to wake up from it. Instead the meal went on and before she knew it Professor Dumbledore was standing up again, and Cassia was looking down at an empty plate. She didn't remember eating any of it, but at least she wasn't hungry.

"Ahem-" He cleared his throat, quieting the hall once more, "just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you." His eyes scanned the crowd. Cassia was sure he could see each of them, and that he could tell if they were listening. She sat up straighter.

"First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of older students would do to remember that as well." His eyes fell on the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term." He continued. "Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

Professor Dumbledore paused for a moment. His gaze felt heavy.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year; the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." He said.

Cassia heard a few laughs, but there was not an atom in her body that doubted the Professor's seriousness. She did wonder, however, what it was Albus Dumbledore was hiding in the castle.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Professor Dumbledore finished.

Cassia had to stifle her giggles when the Weasley Twins launched into the tune of a funeral march. She thought it was fitting.

* * *

 _ **Dear Mum and Dad,**_

Cassia wasn't sure how she was supposed to get farther than that. What was she supposed to say? Should she admit how upset she was? She couldn't tell them she was happy; that would be a lie. Even if it was true, Cassia figured that would cause more problems than it would solve. She took a deep breath.

 _ **My first day at school has been rather strange. I've been sorted into Gryffindor. I was quite surprised and a little disappointed. I understand that you might be as well. But I also think this will be a good thing.**_

She did not.

 _ **After all, what I want most out of school is to experience new things and to learn as much as I can. I think that this could be an excellent opportunity.**_ _ **to explore**_

Cassia frowned at the parchment, her eyes were burning. She swallowed her tears. She was not going to cry when the other girls could hear her. Fay Dunbar and Eloise Midgen already knew each other, and were up late into the night whispering across the space between their beds. They were asleep now, as were Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who seemed to be hitting it off. That only left Cassia and Hermione. Hermione hadn't said a word to Cassia all evening, and she didn't blame her. What had happened on the train was unfortunate, and Cassia would need to make a better second impression. She twirled her quill around in her fingers.

 _ **Love, Cassia**_

She addressed and rolled up the parchment, forgetting that their owl was with Draco. Cassia felt tears well in her eyes. She blinked them back. She would use a school owl in the morning; lots of people must use them. She would make it work.

Cassia extinguished the lying candle on her bedside table and set down her letter. She crawled under the covers and shut her eyes. She was going to have to make this work.


End file.
